• Going meatless at certain times of the year, like Christmas, might mean passing on foods like Yorkshire pudding cooked in beef drippings. But the New York Times’Mark Bittman proposes a seamless stand-in: the popover, which turns a crêpe-like batter baked in a butter-lined cup into Yorkshire-like quick breads. Apparently, they are “at once soft and custard-like on the inside, golden brown and crisp on the outside.” [New York Times]

• The Toronto Star takes note of three mixologists reinventing the winter warmer, a class of once-common cocktails awaiting the type of resurgence currently enjoyed by Manhattans and mojitos. The Drake’s Jonathan Humphrey, Grace co-owner Chris Hoffman and Bill Sweete of Sidecarand Negroni each took turns dishing about their interpretation of the ’60s and ’70s “après-ski treats.” Humphrey’s hot chocolate with Frangelico and scorched marshmallows is an adult take on a childhood classic; Hoffman’s apple warmer “smells like warm apple pie and opens up in your chest like a warm butterfly.” [Toronto Star]

• There’s an iPhone app for every aspect of eating these days—even apps (appetizers, that is). Bonnie Stern has prepared a list of 25 download-worthy recipes for holiday nibbles. We think the simplest might also be the most sophisticated (bite-sized chunks of parmesan drizzled with high-quality balsamic) and delectable (freshly popped popcorn with melted butter or warm extra-virgin olive oil). [National Post]

• Bakery on the Go, in the Warden subway station, already has a spotty DineSafe record: a conditional pass in August for inadequate food temperature control and failure to protect food from contamination. But a recent incident caught on camera by customer Borys Machnikowski truly made our stomachs turn. He noticed “a mouse chowing down on the mini-cheese rolls” in the pastry case. When informed, the manager simply said, “This is subway station. You see mice sometime. So what?” The manager’s tune changed when he saw the photo Machnikowski snapped of the rodent, and the café was closed down. [BlogTO]

• If Ralph Lauren’s daughter Dylan were a candy, she would be an “everlasting gobstopper—well rounded, with a colourful personality.” Fitting for the entrepreneur whose eponymous line of American stores features not only confections but bath and body products, T-shirts, and cocktail-serving “candy bars.” Dylan was in Toronto last month to launch a sampling of her sweets at Holt Renfrew. One of the featured nibbles was called “everything but the kitchen sink”: a hunk of chocolate filled with pretzels, popcorn, pecans, peanuts and “a bunch of other gut-busting ingredients.” [Globe and Mail]